The Starless Avenger
by tessamohorse
Summary: I closed my eyes tight, trying to block out Master's never ending whispers. I couldn't take this forever. I couldn't go on like this for long.-Jordon is training to be an Avenger, but what happened before she got there is making it hard to move forwards. The team decides to let her go, but soon discover something about her that will change their minds.
1. Intro

Intro

It's funny if you think about it. When I was younger, I was scared of the dark. But now after all of this… after everything that has happened… I am the dark.

You couldn't tell from the outside, but every inch of my body was being replaced. Or as some would call it, renewed or brought back. I call it murder. That's what it is though. Murder. If you strip everything away and just look at the bare bones, that's what they are doing to me. They are killing me. They are slowly taking what I know and lighting it on fire in front of me, only to shove something I do not know in its place. But with every piece they take from me, and with every unrecognized piece they give back to me, I start to understand it better. I start to welcome the things that are killing me.

So in a way, you could say I am killing myself.

After all, I am the one who told them to do this to me.


	2. Chapter 1: Day One

Day One

Chapter One

Jordon:

"Jordon!" Mama called "Get down here! There's a man here to talk to you!"

I sighed and opened my eyes. Mud, my pure white husky lay half on my legs half off of them. I had grown up with Mud well, I've had him for as long as I can remember of my fifteen years of life. Mud was five so I guess I got him when I was ten. Pretty awful right, I can't remember my 9th birthday.

Mud lifted his head and started growling as the voices of the two adults drifted up the stairs to my room which was snuggled right up by the peak of the roof. In the winter it would get so cold up here I was forced to buy a space heater, which mama had trashed soon after. After that I would sleep in Michel's room on the floor.

"Jordon!" mama yelled impatiently. I could hear her foot steps on the wooden stairs.

"I'm coming!" I shouted back. I got up stiffly, hating to see mama.

Mama flung open the door and I could see the panic in her eyes. "If you dare tell him anything…" she hissed, but her voice lost its threatening feel and started to tremble.

"You better run." I spat angrily, "Cuz, I'm gonna tell him everything."

"Watch your mouth!" she growled. Mud pulled his lips back to reveal his sharp teeth.

"I'll skin you, dog." She hissed at the husky. Mama grabbed my face, forcing me to look at her. "Jordon, if you tell him anything… You'll regret it." Her breath smelled like beer.

She turned to leave, but I called after her. "The only thing I will regret is not telling someone sooner."

I could hear mama talking to the man in the living room. "Jordon will be down in a minute or two, please make yourself comfortable. Um… I have to go to work…" she was lying to him. she was going to make a run for it.

"I know" The man said simply. Instead of sitting down on the couch he stood standing in a stiff position.

Mama looked at the man uneasily, debating if she should stay. Maybe if she did I wouldn't tell the man anything.

"I mean… of course. You can leave." The man corrected himself abruptly.

Mama quickly grabbed her purse and slammed the door behind her.

She was gone. Hopefully for good.

Now of course, I made a clumsy mistake and when headlong down the stairs, only to a stop at the man's feet.

"Are you okay?" he held out a hand.

I placed my hand in his and he pulled me to my feel. My left hip was on fire. But nothing I wasn't used to.

I avoided his question and instead asked, "Are you from child services?"

"No—I mean yes. Of course I am."

I took a step back, not knowing if I could trust him. Only if Michel was home. "Would you like to sit down?" I asked.

"Yes."

Although this man was clearly up to something, something deep down in my gut told me I could trust him.

I led the way to the living room, limping slightly.

"My name is Phil Coulson, I understand your mother is abusing you?"

I was taken aback. "How did you know that?" there was no way anybody else knew about it, mama made sure of that.

"We have been watching you for some time now. Agent Coulson said.

My eyes widened a little when he said they were watching me. "W-what?" I stuttered.

"Is your brother home?" Agent Coulson changed the subject.

I hesitated. I should tell this man yes, that I was not home alone with a stranger. But on the other hand, this man clearly wanted to see Michel so he would find out soon that he was not home after all. "He's at work."

"When will he be home?"

I glanced at my watch. 8:21 a.m. Michel worked until 10. "He'll be home in a few hours."

"Perfect." Coulson said under his breath.

I jumped up from my chair. "What do you mean?"

"I need to talk to you, Jordon."

I inched away from the man. Any part of me that had trusted him was gone. "What are you going to do to me?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Nothing." he remained seated, hands up. "I just want to talk."

"About what?" I asked.

"I'm going to get you out of here."

"Why?" I asked. No one cared for me. No one ever will. I'm a worthless scrap.

"Because no one deserves to live like this." he answered simply.

I looked down. It was true. No one should live with the constant fear of not knowing when you would die, what your last thought would be. Not knowing when the next time Michel would step in or when Mama would knock him out to get to me. No human should live with that fear. But how many times has Mama told me I wasn't a real person?

"I only need a simple answer. Will you let me save you?" Coulson asked.

I knew the answer should be no. That I shouldn't go with someone I didn't even know. That I should wait for Michel to get home.

"Yes." I bit my tough. It had spoken without my okay.

The man smiled, clearly happy with my answer. "Good. Then let's get a move on."

"No wait." I said, "I gotta grab some stuff."

I walked as fast as I could to my room and grabbed my only photo of my dad.

Five years ago my father was hit by a bus. Everyone said it was my father's fault… that he had known what he was doing. That he didn't might if he died.

I didn't except this for one second. My daddy had never been depressed and he certainly wouldn't kill himself on my birthday.

I looked around for something I could leave a note with but saw only my journal. I ripped a page out of the back and quickly wrote on it.

Michel, I'm not staying here any longer. Some guy from child services came today I am going with him.

I'm sorry to leave like this, but I can't wait any longer. Someone else will come for you, I bet.

Love you like crazy.

XOXO, Jordon.

I went back down to the man waiting for me, but stopped before I could get to him. My hip was really starting to hurt.

"Ready?" he asked.

I nodded and finished the last couple of steps to him.

He serviced the two belongings in my arms, "That's all you are bringing?"

"Yes." I glanced down at my father's photograph. "It's all I need."


	3. Chapter 2: Day One

p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;" align="right"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Chapter Two/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"span style="text-decoration: underline;"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Jordon:/span/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"In the excitement in leaving that horrible house, I forgot one thing./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"My dog./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Sir, I need to go back." I said from the backseat of a black SUV with tinted windows. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""I'm sorry Jordon, we cannot go back. Whatever you forgot must not have been important enough to go back, if you forgot it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""My dog." I snapped, "Is more important than anything."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Even your own life?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I chewed at my lip. "Of course." The truth was I had no idea if I would give my life to save Mud's, but Mud wasn't just a dog. My Father had gotten him for my 10supth/sup birthday. Then of course, he had to die the day after. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Mud was much more than just a dog. He was a memory./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Hey, you missed the turn." I said, looking out the back window. "You missed the turn to the-"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""No, I didn't" Coulson cut me off./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Well, then where are we going?" I asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Not where you think we are going." Coulson answered./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I world fell apart around me. How could I have been so stupid? I was such an idiot. He was going to kill me; chop me up in little pieces and feed me to his fish. "What do you want from me?"It was meant to come out strong and confident, but instead my voice betrayed me and it came out a brittle squeak./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Don't worry Jordon." Coulson glanced back at me. "You will be safer where we are going than anywhere else."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""But emWHERE/em are we going?" I squeaked. My breaking began to come in short gasps. It felt as if I had gotten punched in the gut. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""I can't tell you the exact location, but I can tell you the next stop will be in a field outside of town where we have the Quinjet parked."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Another punch to the gut. This guy was defiantly crazy. I had to get out before he did something to me. Doors locked, window didn't roll down. No way out. "Stop!" I demanded. "I want out!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Jordon, please calm down. No harm will come to you." Coulson's voice was smooth, almost calming./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Please." I whispered, "Let me go home."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Jordon, I know this looks bad and I know you are scared, but I can't explain everything right now, okay? You just need to trust me."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Trust? How was I, the girl whose own mother beat the crap out of every day, supposed to trust a complete stranger? Yes, maybe there was a small part of me that did, but that small part was being pushed down by instinct./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"He glanced back at me again when I didn't replay. "I know it's hard. But you can trust me."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I nodded, but we both knew I was still on the edge. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"About 15 minutes later, Coulson stopped the car in a field outside of town, just like he had said. Coulson climbed out and came to my door. He paused before opening it. But as soon as it was open, I bolted./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Clearly he had not expected my action and it took him a second before me reacted, but he was not as fast as me. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Get to the trees and you can lose this crazy man./span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"But something collided with my side and I was flung to the ground./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Ward!" Coulson yelled, "Be gentle with her!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I gasped for the air that had been so rudely knocked from my lungs and looked up at the person who had rammed me over. He held out a hand but I did not take it. Even at my 5'7, the man called 'Ward' was a good head and a half taller than me. My gut forces me to take a step away from him. I did not want to stand so close to a man with bisects three times the size of my own. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Coulson grabbed my arm and I instantly pulled back, but his grip was too strong for me to break away./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"They led me back to a plain-like thing I had completely missed. "This is the Quinjet." Coulson said with a slight smile./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I tried to pull away again, but it was no use. "Let me go." I said, stopping in my tracks./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""We don't have time for this. Jordon come on." Coulson pulled at my arm, but I would not move. "Come on." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""No!" I barked. "Not until you tell me where you are taking me!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Ward chucked, "I like this one." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Coulson," a small Asian woman seemed to pop out of nowhere. "Possible hostels." She pointed across the field at the tree line where 15 or so bold men in suits stood./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""We need to go. Now." Coulson said, pulling at my arm again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"But I would not move. "No!" I shouted. "I'm not going with you!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Ward grabbed me around the waist and lifted me off the ground. "Help me!" I shrieked at the top of my lungs. "Help me!" I thrashed uncontrollably. "Let me go! Get off me!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""May, get us in the air." Coulson demanded as we entered the Quinjet./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""No!" I screamed clawing at Wards arms. "Let me go!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""FitzSimmons!" Ward called out. "I need an Icer!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"A red head come running over, "The tech isn't finished yet." He said excitedly. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""I won't fight if you let me go!" I yelled./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Stop struggling first." He spat back./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I hesitated; if I stopped struggling it would give him the perfect opportunity to crush me like an ant. But if I wanted to get out of here, I would have to take a chance. So I forced myself to relax the best I could./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Ward set me down but I could tell he would be ready to jump back on top of me if I make the wrong move./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"A crackling sound came over a speaker for a split second and all went quiet./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Skye, find out what that was." Coulson said lowly. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"But Skye didn't have to, because someone spoke for her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""We are the Monks of the Mountain." The line crackled some more, "We want our prize." The voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I knew it from somewhere. I had heard it somewhere before. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""Give her to us." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;""May, get us out of here!" Coulson demanded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"More crackling. "We will emsave/em her."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"I had pushed myself flat to the wall. I knew the voice from somewhere. I emknew /emit. I just couldn't emplace/em it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Then everything happened in a whir wind. There was lots of noise. Lots of blood. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"Somehow I ended up in the woods, a communicator in my ear. There was a burring pain in my side, but I gave it no attention. "Help me." I whimpered into the comm./span/p 


End file.
